Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange Case of Jeffrey Alan Lash

Jeffrey Alan Lash,2010 Cal. DL photo

On or about July 17, police retrieved the deceased body of Jeffrey Alan Lash from a vehicle parked in Pacific Palisades, Cal. The story soon broke that two women, Catherine Nebron and Dawn VadBunker, parked the car where it was discovered with the corpse inside. Attorney Harland Braun had apparently informed authorities of its location. Braun was hired by Nebron and described her as Lash's longtime fiancee. Braun informed the media that Nebron and her employee and assistant, VadBunker, were with Lash on July 4 when he died of causes brought on by terminal illness. They were reportedly in a grocery store parking lot at the time. After Lash died, the women reportedly relocated the vehicle, left the body in it and fled to Oregon. Braun stated the two did so for reasons including they believed Lash was an ET-human hybrid working for US intelligence agencies, and that his contacts would soon retrieve the body. They reportedly opted to not seek medical treatment for the dying man for similar reasons, and maintained they were following his prearranged instructions. It would later surface that at least one additional party may have also been with the two women, and the grocery store where the man was said to have died was, oddly enough, frequented by Whitley Strieber.Nebron returned to the Los Angeles area from Oregon approximately twelve days later to find the remains of Lash still sitting undiscovered in the vehicle. It was apparently then that she contacted Braun for assistance and legal representation, and the attorney notified authorities of the body.Police subsequently searched a condo owned by Nebron and reported to be the residence of her and Lash, which was located in the vicinity of where she and VadBunker left the car containing the corpse. The search resulted in the confiscation of some 1200 guns, additional weapons and literally tons of ammo estimated to be worth several million dollars. The two-bedroom, 2,000 square-foot condo was located in a relatively exclusive area and was valued at $750,000 to $1 million. Every room of the structure was reportedly stacked to the ceiling with guns and boxes of gun accessories, more weapons, such as machetes and bows, and cases of ammo. Police filled the driveway and a nearby alley with items brought out of the condo. An LA police captain described the scene as the worst case of weapons hoarding she had ever seen in her 27-year law enforcement career. Some $230,000 in cash was confiscated from the condo and reportedly counted in a neighbor's garage.

Media reports described neighbors as saying Lash occasionally claimed he was an intelligence operative, and neighbors also stated they did not know how the condo became filled with weapons and boxes. They had not noticed how all the items were delivered to the residence.

Lash was additionally reported to have owned many vehicles, one of which was described as an SUV equipped to drive underwater. VadBunker's husband, Jim Curry, told reporters the woman's job entailed renting garages all over Southern California to store what he described as Lash's dozens of vehicles. The story, Curry explained, was that Lash was CIA and had other agents who might need vehicles on a whim.

Online sleuths and interested parties began uncovering more info about VadBunker, including an odd letter she wrote to her parents, in which the woman described her recent actions as having been for the good of the world. VadBunker's mother, Laura VadBunker, corroborated existence of the hybrid story to the media, stating that the entire episode was "worse than a Twilight Zone movie."

Also introduced in the online community was a suspicious alleged legal doc interpreted to have been posted by the younger VadBunker, establishing her as a member of the VadBunker family, but its origins and purposes were not entirely clear. While investigating the document, an individual using the screen name SysConfig subsequently identified the judge who allegedly signed it as having been retired prior to its creation date, further calling its authenticity into question.

SysConfig identified a unit neighboring the condo owned by Nebron as owned by Assistant District Attorney Whelma T. Llanos and attorney Dominic J. Messiha. The unit owned by Llanos was near the condo where Nebron and Lash reportedly resided and the weapons stash was confiscated, and it may possibly have been Llanos' garage where the nearly quarter of a million dollars was counted. SysConfig notified a news outlet which had previously covered the story. A response was received, but no particular interest was demonstrated by the outlet in the irony of an Assistant DA possibly being a neighbor of Lash and Nebron.

Authorities have not yet reported results of their investigations into the origins of the weapons, cash and additional items taken into custody. When all the dust settles, the legal status of the weapons and cash will prove to be key aspects of this truly bizarre story. The intentions of the various people involved, their lines of work, and the purposes of their actions and statements may never be entirely clear, only whether or not police ever file any charges against any of them. At this point, foul play is not suspected in the death of Jeffrey Alan Lash, whoever and whatever he may have actually been in life. UPDATES:LAPD: Lash Files Will Not Be Releasable, 'The UFO Trail', March 15, 2016LAPD Denies Request for Lash Files, 'The UFO Trail', March 7, 2016

45 comments:

I'm pulling out all the stops on this one. I'm seeing the same pattern of poor execution with tv stations reporting as if Dawn were still missing while on the same station reporting on the lash story with dawn yet no reporter seems to connect..Anytime events are done with film shooting real police are retained..mixed in with some renta cop extras and you can do interesting things. Take the removal of ammo and guns..of which Hollywood has plenty of realistic props..some fake money..thats why we wont hear anything more on the guns..the cops had tshirts of Special Olympics on..not to mention handling potentially explosive and or booby trapped mechanisms that was alleged on facebook..the happy medium which is being utilized and players participating in..merely take the pdf of a federally active case susch as the Yee Chinese Pacific connections..and compare to what is being done here..the monitoring equipment ..taps..infiltration..absolutely no semblance to reality. imo. Its remarkable to me that Linda made a fatal faux pas in the Drone case of 2007 releasing emails of Isaac 30 days after the fact and here we have a release of snail mail by Laura s indicating that Dawn VanBunker was in Sacramento,,not Oregon...same types of mistakes and same people promoting..can only lead to the same conclusion..Hollywood ..but this gets how easy it is for news...and audiences..to be manipulated..sure we all know that..but its great to catch them before the truth itself..becomes unrecognizable.While the UFO community is used to this day in day out..Its not so with sites like websleuths..where they discuss real cases..people spend years finding loved ones and serial offenders..when marketing news and Hollywood can pull one over on them..then that is a great loss to all of us.Its incumbent..then to take these guys down hard and expose them..

What does this peculiar story really have to do with ufology? The late Mr. Lash wasn't prominent in that field or any other, and he seems to have built up a cult consisting in its entirety of himself, his girlfriend, one other woman, and possibly an unidentified fourth person.

Was he working for the US government? Almost certainly not. One of the most basic things about being a secret agent is that you don't go around telling everybody who will listen that you're a secret agent - it kind of defeats the point of the "secret" part of your job. And if you also keep telling people that you're a space alien in addition to being James Bond, it's pretty strong evidence that you're neither of those things, and not very sane either.

It's probably a very good thing that Jeffrey Alan Lash died of natural causes at a comparatively early age, because you don't stockpile enough guns to equip an army unless you plan to raise that army, and presumably deploy it against somebody or other for whatever reason makes sense in your fantasy world of spies and aliens.

The only mystery seems to be where he got his money, but there are plenty of ways an apparently jobless man might become rich that don't involve government conspiracies or space-aliens. Unless very surprising information comes to light, what we have here is an independently wealth man with a severe mental illness who only ever persuaded a number of people you can count on one hand that he wasn't nuts, and thus never gained the huge cult following he must have thought he was destined to have, since you don't buy enough guns to equip over a thousand people who don't exist unless you assume they'll show up eventually.

Whatever nonsense this pitifully deluded man believed has about as much relevance to any aspect of mainstream ufology as the existence of mentally ill people who think they're Jesus Christ has to the validity of Roman Catholicism. Not that it makes it any more valid either; it's just a very poor stick with which to beat the likes of MUFON.

By the way, since the late Mr. Lash claimed to be a space-man who was under constant threat from the US government, and thought that medical assistance for a terminal illness was unnecessary because his body would be picked up for some reason, is it perhaps possible that he believed himself to be living the plot of the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still", and thought he would rise from the dead, thus becoming a cult figure who would attract enough followers to use all those guns?

Just a thought...some demon /other-worldly spirt possessed people think they are 'aliens' stranded on earth (and perhaps partially correct considering the nature of these controlling spirits). If so... the possessing or influencing spirit might also tell its subject how to invest or where to find the money needed for what ever op is going on..if there is one. CIA has been known to duplicate this as well, and both The otherworldly and the CIA are aware of each other. So not ruling it out , things can be strange indeed.

Count, I don't think the story has anything to do with UFOs, not in the literal sense. I do find it interesting in a social sense, however. I think there are a lot of possible scenarios and items worthy of attention and consideration, one of them being that people discount the mental health of the parties involved and the subsequent extents they might be dangerous when the ET card gets played. I think that's worthy of further consideration and keeping an eye on, among other possibilities.

Hello? Why are no commenters concerned that an emotionally disturbed individual claiming to be a CIA alien hybrid had a condo that was serving as a storehouse stuffed with guns and ammo and other assorted weapons. Thankfully, he died before he could do widespread harm.

Does anybody realize that paranormal BS floated to get attention and make money is potentially dangerous when an unhinged mind latches onto it? Instead, commenters whine about this not being UFO related story. Sorry, but it couldn't be more UFO related.

If The Asst La District attorney Whelma and her hubby next door at the pool , didn't care all these years why should we?..If we allow ourselves to believe the inherent ant igun meme had some effect can assure you that the blowback has been every one should get a gun because as sure as Gawd made little green apples..everyone will get one..because as here..the police were no where for 2 weeks..and have done nothing for 2 months..think about that..No I disagree ..its not about ufos..its about group think that leads to cult behavior.the us and them mentality...and the group think that the state will protect you...even if it kills you..

purrlgurrl completely and utterly misses the point. Lash was almost certainly a paranoid schizophrenic. Many people have convinced themselves they're part-ET because in certain sections of the UFO community, it's basically just a matter of saying you think you might be, and then dozens of people with very poor literacy skills will agree with you and you can feel special. It's called being very gullible and not very bright.

However, convincing yourself that in addition to being a semi-ET for extremely nebulous reasons, you work for numerous US government agencies when you straight up don't, and they've given you the task of personally saving the world because nobody else can, therefore you need to buy 1,200 guns, is pretty much textbook paranoid schizophrenic behavior, except for the ludicrous number of guns involved!

Though in fairness to the mentally ill, the great majority of schizophrenics don't feel the need to buy guns at all or otherwise be violent, perhaps being content to perform some strange ritual every day in the privacy of their own home which they honestly believe prevents Barack Obama from opening the gates of Hell.

Lash didn't get seriously ill in the head because he read some nonsense about quite a lot of people possibly being half-extraterrestrial and wondered if it might apply to him too. He got sick because he was genetically quite likely to, started to obsess about his imaginary world-saving mission, and cobbled together a bizarre fantasy involving fictional enemies and hallucinatory orders from government agencies to justify it all in his own mind.

The half-ET thing was just a plot-element lifted from popular culture to explain why he, and only he, was so special, and perhaps also to explain why he was constantly hearing or seeing things that other people around him weren't. If it hadn't been aliens it would have been something else - in a Muslim country he'd probably have thought he was half-djinn.

This is NOT a UFO story; it's a mental illness story in which aliens are incidental and irrelevant. If nobody in the world believed in anything connected with flying saucers, this guy would have gone equally mad and behaved pretty much identically, though his reason for being special would have been different. That's all.

You say I miss the point, yet you go ahead and make it for me. It is about the crap that's circulating in the UFO community (abductions, hybrids, secret CIA-alien pacts and conspiracies, and on and on) which is meant to gouge money from the true believers. It is, in itself, an insane view of the world created for the purposes of exploitation. Is it any wonder someone who was unbalanced latched onto it? It matched up perfectly with his paranoia. Yeah, I know, you say, something else just as easily could have. But, something else didn't. Yes, this is the spawn of the crazy BS that infests much of Ufology. BS that's callously meant to put butts in conference chairs and sell books and podcast subscriptions.

I agree exploitation is the name of the game in ufology and the vast majority of its subplots. In the specific instances of Lash and his contacts, whatever they may prove to be, I'd still say that is the case, whatever the individual motives may have been and wherever the money trails may have led. Bullshit is the stage and exploitation is the star.

I would like to imagine in such a way as to accumulate $230,000,cars, including one that runs underwater and tons of ammo and living in some great digs.All this without visible means of getting it all. Was he a ghost with no past?

COB Your points are well taken .and if it was a hoaxed story for a movie. it might make a case for removing guns from the mentally ill..In fact California did just that confiscating coincidentally with great fanfare by the state AG 1200 guns in a sweep. that involved over a dozen federal and state agencies operating from pooled data..Here we see no such coordination, with back n forth movement to The DAs garage, whos own identity was never revealed..in fact blurred under another name Researching inc. Bact to Jeff..No evidence he claimed he was an ET..The garage and apt fool of books..how to get women, law encorcement manuals, the art of War..ut not in that entire collection was any book that we would consider part of a woo woo collection. not a one. This was a label concocted after he was dead..Remember the State AG bust nabbed 1200 guns..across the state..He was already on the police rolls for concealed weapons charge..at the airport..He had dozens of guns stolen in the late 90s..insured..and all detailed..Not one of the these guns presently has been found illegal..and every weapon purchased has a form filled out and a fee paid to the state..Never had we heard of any mental illness..just the anti cancer drugs..Many schizophrenics I know use the line the cIA is after them...here..he fantasizes he is the CIA..The only zarre behavior I see is CNs or one of the wives..who would threaten her own HOA members. by namedropping her dad..a former judge..yet now..projects herself as the victim..afraid of her own shadow..forced to live in a bathroom...yet free to come and go and manage her properties with her employee girlfriend..so her lawyer says..IE setting up a classic patti hearst defense, a variant of the Stockholm syndrome.This man was not mentally ill..just eccentric...and when we can classify eccentricity, and or belief in conspiracies a mental illness..and the American Psychiatric Assoc has been trying to do just that..then my friend we are all in trouble.That's why its important to demolish any imagery with an agenda ..and this even appears like a commercial for such a meme. Destroy the image..you take away its power and that is what we have been doing

I don't think it can or should be claimed that Lash was an arms dealer without substantiation or evidence of such an allegation.

It appears, from googling additional accounts from local media in the area where Lash resided, that Lash was an intelligent but deeply delusional and terribly manipulative con man, who obtained most of his funds to buy the incredible arms and ammo cache he amassed in "his" (actually owned by his "fiance," of 17 years!) condo from at least a few rather financially well-off but bizarrely gullible women, one of whom, Catherine Nebron, he kept in semi-isolation for 3 years. Another woman, Michelle Lyons, also bankrolled Lash's abusive insanity starting in the mid-80's.

Lash was a paranoid hoarder, of both weapons and other items, and no reports so far indicate he dealt arms -- rather, all his weapons purchases appear to be legal and registered, but if you read the links I'm providing here, a somewhat different picture of Lash emerges:

Lash basically appears to have been a rather persuasive and crazy loner, who told tall tales about being an alien hybrid and also falsely claimed to work for the CIA, etc.

I tend to agree with "Count Otto Black" and his comments above that this story is not really related to UFOs other than, as Jack here notes, from an oblique social / cultural perspective, of someone who used distorted "social memes" (alien hybrid, secret agent, here to save the world, etc.) to advance his confabulated and nutty agenda, which was to defraud others for his personal benefit and for sociopathic control motivations.

LMFAO! Funny that I was able to read passed the alien hybrid revelation...but I just couldn't swallow this: "Lash was additionally reported to have owned many vehicles, one of which was described as an SUV equipped to drive underwater."

I know a brilliant and mentally ill fellow. He is the heir to great wealth, but they only let him have a relativily small amount each month- enough for a condo, new cars, and traveling about. He has stories of meeting the reptilians, and even introduced me to another, seemingly sane fellow, that claims to have had a reptilian girl friend. Both are very convincing with their claims ? I suppose Lash could have inherited some money too,

My research using Everify Found Lashes father listed as a service worker clerk..not a microbiologist. Asiside rom the glaring presence of the LA DA, keyplayers showed ss active years after their birth....either immigrants or planted ID as one would find for undercover. If this is not a movie promo, then extraordinary precautions and efforts made to conceal identities.We can say the guns were all Hollywood props and the money fake..and be on safe ground..this happens....or we can say another sting like Fast and furious went bad. of nearly 1700 guns sold to criminals in that case only 700 plus have been recovered. The number of vehicles and hidden garages..are consistent with car thefts..very heavy in LA and chop shops...reassembled with salvage titles..and all legal..if not caught.As of last night..9/29 after posting several of these curious discrepancies..I was blocked from web sleuths thread..other members have emailed saying the Lash thread is blocked..Even nonmembers..trying to access it..I have know idea what could prompt such a reaction on a simple almost funny..alien story. we all spoke civilly and just wanted to get to the truth.cheers

GhostofED just reported what looks, walks, and talks like a block at the thread. That's a helluva thanks for uncovering an alien nest..maybe even the mothership maybe even the galactic federation way team undecided

Noel Leon another member who had my email also reports she cannot get in and thread inaccessible too

I hate manufactured reality..like manufactured consent..real? or Memorex?karl rove once told a journalist that once you catch on on..they simply change the reality...which is why the CIAs Inspector recent remarks on Hollywoods intimate role in the making of Zero Dark thirty with on the set advisors and attendance at classified meetings.crossed redlines..and it is only one of eight projects for our viewing pleasure. Its a sad situation for the public influenced ..and why after the Libyan war that muslim video whose director created it was allegedly found to be connected to DOJ . Now thanx to the hearings with Hillary..everyone knows that premise of the film sparking riots..was totally false..and they knew that before hand..They can create videos on the fly ..its all the rage. Its why our one headliner news has essentially denigrated to pop news..with no substance and lots of propaganda once limited to the Voice of America..Whether its a war agenda..or LE gun control agenda..the powers that be will spare no expense to put on the ritz to influence the public, or a targeted segment of the population..

We now have with the Lash case another in South Carolina of a Gun hoarder , Brent Nicholson..with six times at last count as many guns..save these were all "stolen"wash rinse repeat..

now..My concern at this point vetting these people in depth on Lash was the almost endless name changes and pseudo identities ..with actors having the same DObs, ss numbers issued years and years after birth, but all almost the same years..lash matter is a strange brew indeed..even leaving out the asst Da living next door..Catherine Nebron..and the fake adoption certificate of Dawn Marie Vadbunker, a 39 year old daughter in law..becomes also the adopted Daughter..she was never divorced from david Vadbunker jr..yet is alleged to have been married also to a Jim Curry..who on Facebook was playing the role of abandoned newlywed husband.WTF he said on facebook..Dawn F You I don't know you at all..

well..a female named Michelle..friend of Dawn..consoled him..and relayed her expericience with DMV attempting to take out a life insurance policy on her in Michigan..So I checked Michigan records and found the followinghttp://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc191/sys_config/sys_config004/ScreenHunter_180%20Oct.%2028%2000.51_zpsvsxtdfdc.jpghttp://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc191/sys_config/sys_config004/ScreenHunter_179%20Oct.%2028%2000.50_zpsegmjq1wc.jpg

dawns real name so far was Dawn Marie Hannon..who just happened to have as neighbors a Christopher s Curry..but wait..theres more!with dawn Marie Hannon we see listed as neighbor with same phone numberD. Welch..I what in tarnation that D stands for?

So we can be certain at this point the initial kidnapping was hoaxed before Lash appeared on the news. That catherines condo was essentially a storehouse for her famous fathers memorebila which included thousands of opera cds referred to later as dvds incorrectly.I want our reality makers, wizards behind the curtain..in this story to sweat..and with exits blocked..the rabbit in the hole that drew us in..has no choice..but to turn back in our direction.cheersSys

I've known a few arms dealers and you know what? Never did I know any of them to purchase firearms legally whilst filling out all the paperwork in the process. Both you "Sensible" people may have overlooked this little detail or else now you know why he is unlikely to be an arms dealer. Besides which, 1200 guns isn't exactly a serious stock for any serious dealer unless you're selling to small time crooks and then we would be even more surprised if he'd be selling guns HE has personally bought legally. For the record, I think that owning a name like Common Sense is an unwise thing to do unless you've noticed over time that you're often the only one who can see a solution when all about are losing their heads or AND you have proved it often enough to feel confident enough you'll not end up making a clown of yourself making some proclamation from an assumed lofty stage of Common Sense and have some dummy come along and point out you've been a bit hasty or foolish in your analysis.

Damn, I just happened on this thread during a bit of insomnia after hearing the news well after the event. I am in awe of all your sleuthing powers but have no idea which one of you I should believe! (That's not intended as an insult.) but you all did teach me something worthwhile: I should never have believed the lame media had the whole story right, and the Internet shall provide me with the real information if I dig deep enough. You guys ROCK! Thanks for the lesson.

For those wondering about LAPD withholding files on the Lash case (as referenced in the "UPDATES" linked at the end of the post), I doubt that is particularly unusual. I support more transparency for several reasons, but I doubt the secrecy is exclusive to this case as much as standard operations - unfortunately. I could be wrong, but I suspect that's correct.

BTW, there was an interesting and bizarre case that recently made the news about a weapons cache confiscated at - ya ready for this? - the Arizona Department of Economic Security. Seems the director was "ousted," and 50 guns and 80,000 rounds of ammo were seized on the property. Other DES employees were fired as well, as they were apparently preparing for a stand against terrorists they feared would attack them. The director was reportedly circulating "mojo" emails related to his faith and beliefs. Department of Public Safety officers were called in to keep the peace when the crew was informed to turn over their weapons and get off the property. I've read the story four times and I'm still digesting it:

The man got his money because he was a gigolo who preyed on rich women who believed his Alien/CIA story. Then he used the money to stockpile as he was a paranoid survivalist. The nonsense about being and alien and in the CIA was just a story to cover for his other activities.

"Here’s how I see it: Empathy is the ability to respect and maybe even understand another’s point of view, revealing larger truths about ourselves and others. Exploitation is the use of another’s experience for personal gain. Empathy requires self-awareness. Exploitation is marked by self-interest. Empathy is about deepening connections. Exploitation, about filling one’s pockets, literal or figurative."